WW II plane buffs?

Slight derail - how do you store your models so they don't get broken?

Yuri

The 50 or so that are on "display" are housed on a remarkably ugly set of steel shelves in our study. My kids (both under 5) are remarkably good about respecting the space, and building/acquiring a proper cabinet is on my to do list.

The rest that are 'retired' are stored in big plastic 90L roller bins with clip-on lids. There are other (likely better) ways of secure storing (like custom hacked to shape polystyrene or foam in individual boxes), but this is efficient, doesn't seem to damage them, and it can fit bigger models in too (like a 1/72 C-130). Plus there's too many of them to be lavish with the more complicated storage methods.

If they travel anywhere for a show they get treated like this:
packedmodels.jpg


Appropriate size heavy cardboard box, lined on the bottom with bubble wrap to stop them moving laterally, and foam to hold them in place as a backup, with bubble wrap laid over and the lid closed to keep them safe if they bounce. Stopping them moving in the box is the main thing. These guys are reasonably delicate, but managed an 80 mile each way trip to a recent airshow in the back of someones car with no drama. This box in particular is a Fed-Ex laptop courier, and the foam came with it which was handy.
 
The only WW II plane that you could melt in, if you cracked up on take off.

There are many aircraft that are said to have killed more of their own pilots than the enemy did, but in the Komet's case I think it might actually be true. Spectacular, but also nasty and temperamental little thing...
 
The F4, F100, Vought Crusader, ME109, ME626 are handsome, often in a grim sort of way.

And the F-14 (particularly in 80's-90's dirty grey lo-vis) just looked mean.

Not quite WWII, but I've always had a soft spot for the other Lightning, the English Electric one with vertically stacked twin turbojets (a bit like an aeronautical nail-studded baseball bat. Brutally fast, slightly crude, but effective in the right hands:)). I like cold war jets that were designed when the little aerodynamic tricks and fixes were still being figured out, resulting in a whole bunch of configurations, and often problems seemed like they were solved just by throwing more thrust at them :)
 
The only WW II plane that you could melt in, if you cracked up on take off.

The interesting thing about the Komet is that if, instead of a pilot and a gun, it had been equipped with a heat-seaker and a warhead, it would have worked great. If you visit Deutche Museum in Munich, you will see some experiments aimed at building guided surface to air missile (made of plywood, btw.) If they had had another year ....:eye-poppi

Hans
 
However, see how that went: They introduced Phantoms without guns, but had to retrofit them. Even today, most fighters still have guns.
Are there any examples other than F-4 of planes designed to carry only missiles and no gun? I know of none, but am mostly only familiar with more recent planes, which were designed sometime after F-4 got its gun(s) added.
 
Yes, along with the CASA built Heinkel 111s (also merlin powered) and Ju-52s. IIRC all three types were still on the active inventory of the Spanish Air Force at the time, and loaned to the production company for the duration of filming.

There is a wonderfull story from the filming. It seems that they were running late and needed to shoot some more scenes but the Spanish planes had to take part in a fly-over of the Spanish fleet. They knew they had to shoot more scenes so they decided NOT to repaint the bombers so the Spanish admirals were treated to a fly-past of a German WW2 painted squadron of Heinkel bombers. :D Well perhaps they liked it, they WERE allies with the Germans during WW2 (allthough they claimed to be neutral).

My favourite plane HAS to be the Spitfire and more precisely the MK IX. It is simply the most beautifull fighter ever buildt. The Mustang is more "Buisnesslike" but a better fighter not at least because of it's range. Goering apparently said that he knew Germany would loose the war when he saw the first one engined fighter over Berlin, it was, off course, a Mustang.
 
The interesting thing about the Komet is that if, instead of a pilot and a gun, it had been equipped with a heat-seaker and a warhead, it would have worked great. If you visit Deutche Museum in Munich, you will see some experiments aimed at building guided surface to air missile (made of plywood, btw.) If they had had another year ....:eye-poppi

Hans

I forget the make but the Luftwaffe tried something like that in Italy.

NM: I just remembered they were air launched and flown via video camera.
 
There are many aircraft that are said to have killed more of their own pilots than the enemy did, but in the Komet's case I think it might actually be true. Spectacular, but also nasty and temperamental little thing...
The operational losses were 10 (to 16 kills), but it is not clear what the losses due to accidents were. Since it was notoriously accident-prone, they might well exceed the operational losses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163

Interestingly, one source of accidents was the excellent gliding properties: If the landing speed was just a tad high, the plane would glide along, running out of landing strip (and, of course, with no engine power, a go-around was out of the question). Flaps were introduced to reduce this problem, but it would still require very careful speed husbandry to get down safely.

Hans
 
Are there any examples other than F-4 of planes designed to carry only missiles and no gun? I know of none, but am mostly only familiar with more recent planes, which were designed sometime after F-4 got its gun(s) added.

Well, I think several fighters of the era were designed to rely on missiles, since early 50ties doctrine held that to be the right thing, but I'm not sure if others were actually made operative without guns.

The F104 is a typical example of a plane designed to bring a missile within range of the enemy as fast as possible. It was equipped with an excellent 20mm Gatling gun, but with a turning diameter the size of Texas, it was certainly not a dogfighter.

Hans
 
One of those early History-channel "Wings Of The Luftwaffe" shows featured the Komet, and they said the big problem was fueling accidents.
The two fuels, C-Stoff and T-Stoff, were so volatile and reactive that each tank had to be filled separately from separate trucks, and even the slightest mixture of the two outside the engine caused fires and explosions.
 
I had a book about various secret weapons of WW II ( Panjandrum!) and there was a still from a Luftwaffe training film- a rag containing T-Stoff was exposed to C-Stoff *fumes* and it went up in flames.
 
Well, I think several fighters of the era were designed to rely on missiles, since early 50ties doctrine held that to be the right thing, but I'm not sure if others were actually made operative without guns.

The F104 is a typical example of a plane designed to bring a missile within range of the enemy as fast as possible. It was equipped with an excellent 20mm Gatling gun, but with a turning diameter the size of Texas, it was certainly not a dogfighter.

Hans
.
F-102 and F-106 were missile only.
 
TIf you visit Deutche Museum in Munich, you will see some experiments aimed at building guided surface to air missile (made of plywood, btw.) If they had had another year ....:eye-popp


It wouldn't have changed the outcome—though it would have made it more costly for Allied bomber crews. Besides, if the war in Europe had lasted a few months longer than it did historically, there'd have been atomic bombs dropped on Germany rather than conventional bombs.
 
The 50 or so that are on "display" are housed on a remarkably ugly set of steel shelves in our study. My kids (both under 5) are remarkably good about respecting the space, and building/acquiring a proper cabinet is on my to do list.

The rest that are 'retired' are stored in big plastic 90L roller bins with clip-on lids. There are other (likely better) ways of secure storing (like custom hacked to shape polystyrene or foam in individual boxes), but this is efficient, doesn't seem to damage them, and it can fit bigger models in too (like a 1/72 C-130). Plus there's too many of them to be lavish with the more complicated storage methods.

If they travel anywhere for a show they get treated like this:
[qimg]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/saylittle/packedmodels.jpg[/qimg]

Appropriate size heavy cardboard box, lined on the bottom with bubble wrap to stop them moving laterally, and foam to hold them in place as a backup, with bubble wrap laid over and the lid closed to keep them safe if they bounce. Stopping them moving in the box is the main thing. These guys are reasonably delicate, but managed an 80 mile each way trip to a recent airshow in the back of someones car with no drama. This box in particular is a Fed-Ex laptop courier, and the foam came with it which was handy.

Love the A4 collection. :)
 
.
F-102 and F-106 were missile only.

Perhaps compensated by both being able to be equipped with nuclear tipped air to air guided missiles or rockets :D. The F-106 was also modified to carry an M-61 in the weapons bay after entering service.

Other gun-less fighters/interceptors I can think of are the F-89 Scorpion (most of them anyway), the F-86D, both of which relied on unguided rockets. The Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat, and the Tu-28 Fiddler were also exclusively missile armed IIRC.

The RAF's Eurofighter Typhoon F.2's initially entered service with the gun deactivated, to save money and fatigue life. Removing the gun completely would upset the weight distribution, so it was installed, just not supported or used. Apparently it can be quickly reactivated, and there are plans to do so.
 
My favourite plane HAS to be the Spitfire and more precisely the MK IX. It is simply the most beautifull fighter ever buildt. The Mustang is more "Buisnesslike" but a better fighter not at least because of it's range.

Agreed. The Mustang looks great from some angles, but the big radiator scoop deepening the fuselage under the belly spoils the lines for me. I prefer the re-engined Mustangs that removed it, like the racing Mustangs or the Enforcer. Most marks of Spitfire though look great from any angle.
 
disunrecounterrailing.

Show some love for WWII era flying boats. Short Sunderland/PBY Catalina etc.
 
disunrecounterrailing.

Show some love for WWII era flying boats. Short Sunderland/PBY Catalina etc.


Too bloody right!


FlyingBoat01.jpg

Short Sandringham (VH-BRC) and Sunderland (VH-BRF) at Lord Howe Island in 1974


The Sandringham is the 'civilianised' version of the Sunderland.

These aircraft operated a daily service to Lord Howe Island from Sydney until the island's airstrip was completed in mid-1974.

VH-BRC is now preserved at the Solent Sky Museum, Southampton, United Kingdom.


FlyingBoat02.jpg

Short Sunderland (VH-BRF) in Sydney Harbour in 1973


But wait . . . there's more!


 

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